Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 122219 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 611(@200wpm)___ 489(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122219 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 611(@200wpm)___ 489(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
“What’s the return policy on universe gifting?” I muttered as I crossed my arms.
“I know it’s awkward for you, Avery, but this could be good for the team. I know it’s probably uncomfortable with Nathan, but you’re both adults now and can work past any old drama you had. I know you can because you’re a badass who can work through anything. Even ex-boyfriends.”
3
NATHAN
Ihad a strong distaste for people who lied to get their way. Nothing rubbed me the wrong way more than a liar.
“You said you told Avery about me being the head coach and that she was on board with the idea,” I remarked as I stood in Raymond’s office, floored that he didn’t tell Avery. I felt like a major dick for blindsiding her like that. If Raymond had told me Avery did, in fact, not know about the arrangement, I would’ve told him to tell her as soon as possible. I wouldn’t have agreed to the position without her approval.
Nothing good came from surprising Avery Kingsley.
I’d learned that the hard way.
“I might have told a little lie. The truth is, I know you would’ve turned down the head coaching position if you knew Avery didn’t approve. I think you’ll be the greatest gift to the team, Nathan. I couldn’t risk losing you.”
“You wouldn’t have lost me, but I wouldn’t have accepted the head coach position.”
“Listen, I know you don’t know Avery as well as I do, but she can be a handful. She’s hotheaded and would’ve had this explosive reaction regardless of how gently we revealed the news. I figured yanking the Band-Aid off was the best bet.”
“This should’ve been discussed. Now I have an irritated coach who doesn’t trust me. That only makes things more challenging.”
“Not exactly. I told Avery if she didn’t find your addition to the team a good fit, she could remove herself completely from the coaching staff. And if she gives you a hard time, I’ll remove her myself.”
Was he joking?
That was messed up.
He had enough nerve to flip Avery’s world upside down and then threaten to remove her.
What a dick.
“It will be fine,” I told him. My mind was still trying to wrap around everything that was happening. I only considered coaching the baseball team when I was approached with the opportunity because my mother was worried about me focusing too much on the family farm. She said I needed hobbies. Real hobbies outside of balancing the books. Plus, I’d missed the game.
Did a part of me want to be near Avery Kingsley, too? Sure. Maybe.
But the connection we had all those years ago was old and buried. I didn’t want to dig it up. If anything, it was a simple curiosity of wanting to know the type of woman Avery grew up to become.
Okay. That ws a lie. Maybe I did want to dig up our connection a tad bit. I couldn’t help it. She was a part of the happiest time in my life when I was younger. It was almost impossible to not think about her and what we once were.
I’d heard whispers in town about Avery. Gossiping townsfolk calling her rude and harsh. Most people in Honey Creek looked at Avery and said she grew up to be bitter and cold, but when I looked into her eyes, I saw the same thing I’d seen all those years before—someone I wanted to know more about.
Her brown eyes were still beautiful, yet colder than I’d remembered.
I wondered what made them so cold.
I wondered what made her heart harden so much over the years.
And due to my curiosity, I needed her to stay around for a while. I couldn’t have her quit the team or be let go. I also didn’t want her to have some awful thoughts about who I’d grown up to be. After my career-ending injury, I went through a bit of a spiral with my mental health. It wasn’t only due to the injury, but around the same time, I’d lost one of my best friends to a tragedy. I wasn’t in a good place, and the media ran with their stories about how I was a drug addict and a has-been. I knew what it was like to be judged from the outside. I didn’t like that Raymond or the people of Honey Creek judged Avery in that same fashion.
And even if she was cold, the world probably made her that way. People’s hearts didn’t harden by choice. They hardened due to traumatic inflictions of pain caused by others.
Maybe this was my opportunity to reintroduce myself to her. To start anew. To leave our past behind us and work together to make the team the best it could be. Because if there was one thing Avery knew, it was baseball. She lived and breathed the sport. I didn’t join the team to have her talents overlooked. I joined in order to help highlight them.